Deity

God

God is mentioned in the final verses of Paradise as the author of the greatest gift and as the resplendent light thanks to which Dante sees in the Empyrean.

Profile

The name God appears in Paradise V, v. 19, where he is recalled as the one who bestows the greatest gift ("Lo maggior don che Dio per sua larghezza"). In Paradise XXX, v. 97, God is indicated as "isplendor di Dio," the principle of the vision that Dante receives at the highest moment of his celestial journey. The notes to Canto I of the Inferno clarify that the entire journey of the Comedy is ordered as a path that has God as its end: the straight way is the one that "leads man to his end, that is, to God," a metaphor rooted in the Gospel that governs the invention of Dante's journey. The source for Paradise I, moreover, describes paradise as the place of the Christian who ascends "fino all'eterno amore, nel cuore stesso della luce intellettuale che muove il mondo (XXX 40)," confirming that the entire itinerary converges upon the divine.

In the text

Linked verses

128 verses